1. Field of the Invention
An equipment cradle for motor vehicles that is capable of securing equipment during transit in the passenger compartment of motor vehicles, and specifically an equipment cradle that is easily added to and removed from the motor vehicle even when equipment is attached, and more specifically an equipment cradle that rests on a motor vehicle's seats and is securely coupled to the motor vehicle using the standard Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children (LATCH) Restraint System.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Traditionally there has been no good way to transport equipment, particularly office equipment such as printers and multifunction machines safely and useable in the passenger compartment of motor vehicles. Many employees, agents and other personal or small business owners need to create, process and upload documents remotely from an office. Examples of such individuals are mobile notaries, real estate agents, insurance adjustors, sales persons, medical care providers, field agents, and the like. As mobile data access has grown, there is a need and benefit for the remote printing, scanning and copying of documents. Most of these functions when in a physical office and performed with readily available office equipment, such as multifunction printers. While some individuals have attempted to hook up multiple function printers to a power convertor and buckle the unit to the seat of a vehicle, this is generally an unsafe method as the seat belts are not configured to securely hold such equipment in position, particularly under heavy braking, quick acceleration, sharp cornering, or even in a crash situation where the equipment is subjected to extreme force in a single direction or multiple directions. In particular, while some individuals and companies have attempted to place the smallest multifunction device in a vehicle, for most individuals, including real estate agents and mobile notaries, a small multi-function printer is not designed for, not reliable and not convenient for printing large closing packages and transaction documents which regularly exceed one hundred pages. The smallest of the large multifunction printers typically used for large print jobs easily weigh 40-50 or more pounds. To address the problems listed above, many companies, employees and agents purchase specially configured vehicles, such as a van or the like and reconfigure it into a mobile office. The necessary office equipment is permanently bolted in place, making the vehicle unusable in other settings and applications. Therefore, an expensive vehicle, typically $30,000-$40,000 or more after reconfiguration into a mobile office has a limited use and purpose. As such, many individuals companies cannot afford these limited use vehicles. Therefore, there is a need for a solution that safely and quickly allows a standard vehicle to transport in a useable configuration office equipment and quickly be converted back to a passenger vehicle.